Five criminals appeared before the court for sentence.

Their names, strange to say, were Fraud, Libel, Blackmail, Theft and Murder - each the namesake of the crime with which one of the others was charged.

The namesake of the crime with which Blackmail was charged was himself charged with the crime of which the namesake was charged with murder.

The namesake of the crime with which Murder was charged was himself charged with the crime of which the namesake was charged with fraud.

All the prisoners were found guilty and sentenced. Theft, for example, got seven years. The criminal who was found guilty of murder was placed on death row.

Who committed the murder?

From paragraph 2, each person was charged with one of the following:
Blackmail - fraud, libel, theft, murder
Fraud     - blackmail, libel, theft, murder
Libel     - blackmail, fraud, theft, murder
Theft     - blackmail, fraud, libel, murder
Murder    - blackmail, fraud, libel, theft

With paragraph 3, the clues limit the charges:
Blackmail - fraud, libel, theft
Fraud     - blackmail, libel, theft, murder
Libel     - blackmail, fraud, theft, murder
Theft     - blackmail, fraud, libel, murder
Murder    - fraud, libel, theft

With paragraph 4, the clues further limit the charges:
Blackmail - fraud
Fraud     - libel, theft
Libel     - blackmail, murder
Theft     - blackmail, murder
Murder    - libel, theft

And, finally, with paragraph 5, the following remains:
Blackmail - fraud
Fraud     - libel
Libel     - murder
Theft     - blackmail
Murder    - theft

Thus, Libel was charged with the murder, and assuming the evidence presented to a reasonable and unbiased jury was true, Libel had committed the murder.

Posted by Dej Mar on 2008-10-08 12:35:48